Today is more about questions than statements. So why this dial? I'll let the pics do the talking 🤣

Insane!

Monterey Watch Company - Kitty Hawk EK

That's not a metaphor. That's a product demonstration. Paul Wyler founded his watchmaking factory in Basel in 1924 with one obsession: build a watch that doesn't break. Three years later he patented the Incaflex — a balance wheel with two curved, serpentine spokes made from an elastic alloy. Instead of a rigid balance that transmitted every shock directly to the pivot, the Incaflex absorbed the impact through the flex of the spokes themselves. The pivot survived because the wheel moved with the shock instead of fighting it. The engineering was elegant. The marketing was better. In 1956, two Wyler watches equipped with Incaflex were dropped 300 metres from the top of the Eiffel Tower. A bailiff at the foot of the monument confirmed they were still running after the fall. Not damaged. Not stopped. Running. In 1962, the stunt was repeated from a 27-storey skyscraper in Seattle to convince the American market — six watches, same result. This is how you prove a product works. Not with a press release. Not with a certification. With a 300-metre drop and a notary at the bottom. The Incaflex worked differently from Incabloc — the Swiss system that became the industry standard. Incabloc protected the pivot by mounting the jewel bearing on a lyre-shaped spring that absorbed shock and returned the jewel to position. Incaflex went further upstream — it redesigned the balance wheel itself, making the shock absorption part of the rotating mass rather than the bearing. Two philosophies, same goal. Incabloc won the volume game — 300,000 units delivered in 1935, 5 million by 1950, 15 million by 1957. Incaflex won the marketing game — nobody remembers a press release, everyone remembers the Eiffel Tower. Both solved the problem that made early wristwatches fragile. The pocket watch pivot could be delicate because it lived in a controlled environment. The wristwatch pivot got dropped, banged, slammed against desks and doors and other people's faces. Before shock protection, watchmakers spent most of their time replacing broken balance staffs. After it, they didn't.